The liquefaction of certain gases such as neon, hydrogen or helium requires the generation of very low temperature refrigeration. For example, at atmospheric pressure neon liquefies at 27.1 K, hydrogen liquefies at 20.39 K, and helium liquefies at 4.21 K. The generation of such very low temperature refrigeration is very expensive. Inasmuch as the use of fluids such as neon, hydrogen and helium are becoming increasingly important in such fields as energy generation, energy transmission, and electronics, any improvement in systems for the liquefaction of such fluids would be very desirable.
Pulse tube refrigeration, wherein refrigeration is generated by a pressure pulse applied to a gas, is used to liquefy fluids such as neon, hydrogen and helium, but such use is effective only at a relatively small scale.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved system for generating refrigeration sufficient to liquefy hard to liquefy fluids such as neon, hydrogen or helium.
It is another object of this invention to provide a system for liquefying hard to liquefy fluids such as neon, hydrogen or helium which can operate at a relatively high production level.